Alex Murphy, an elite small forward from South Kingstown, R.I., decided Tuesday to reclassify into the Class of 2011 and enroll at Duke a year early.
The 6-foot-8, 215-pounder committed to the Blue Devils' 2012 class in February but never ruled out the possibility of being part of Duke's 2011 class.
"It was a very difficult decision but in the end I just thought this was the best thing for my future," Murphy said. "It's a great opportunity."
While Murphy began the year listed in the Class of 2012, it was his fourth year of high school after starting his career at the Prout School in Rhode Island and then transferring to St. Mark's, where he repeated his freshman year and reclassified to the Class of 2012.
Having met all the academic requirements, Murphy will be able to enroll at Duke a year earlier than expected and now becomes the fifth player to join the Blue Devil's incoming recruiting class, joining SG Austin Rivers (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park), SF Michael Gbinije (Chester, Va./Benedictine), C Marshall Plumlee (Warsaw, Ind./Christ School) and PG Quinn Cook (Hyattsville, Md./Oak Hill).
Adam Finkelstein has been a coach or scout at the high school, college and pro levels. He was an assistant coach in Division I by the age of 24 and also worked as a scout for Marty Blake, the NBA's director of scouting.